Post navigation

Bahrain bird ringing news

In the Gulf on the coast of Bahrain, 100,000 Socotra cormorants are settling down to nest. In the intense heat, the only nutrition to be had comes from the wind blowing in from the ocean, making the barren wasteland a fertile place to raise their young.

An early morning visit to Alba Marsh saw us arrive well before first light to set up the nets. It was a very cold but windless day, with almost perfect conditions for catching birds. We never catch very many birds in Bahrain and I am very envious of the numbers caught and ringed in a day in Israel and Turkey for example but we still continue to see what we can catch and learn. Last weekend saw us re-trap a number of birds including three Clamorous Reed Warblers (20/4/2012, 25/10/2013 & 03/01/2014), Common Kingfisher (25/10/2013), Graceful Prinia (20/01/2012) and Water Pipit (09/08/2012). A couple of these were interesting for us and although all birds had been ringed by us at the same site we had not had a re-trap of a Water Pipit from a previous year before. This shows that Water Pipit, along with Bluethroat are site faithful over the years to this small marsh where they return in the winter. The Graceful Prinia is also the oldest re-trap we have on record for this site and was re-trapped almost two years to the day it was first ringed.

Other birds caught included an adult Common Moorhen, a common bird at the site but one we do not often catch as we keep the nets well above the water level so birds can not get caught in the bottom shelves and fall into the water. As a result crakes & rails can walk under the nets without getting caught. We also caught an Isabelline Shrike, which looks like a Daurian Shrike, which was a surprise as we had not seen the bird prior to capture and we do not often catch them in the middle of winter. Other birds caught included two male Little Bitterns and a male House Sparrow.